The P8 Group brings together senior leaders from some of the world's largest public pension funds to develop actions relating to global issues and particularly climate change

Climate change

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...

. It is an initiative of the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CPSL) and HRH Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...

’s Business and Environment Programme (BEP) supported by the Environmental Capital Group (ECG) and the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation.

The P8 Group involves ten leading global pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, including representatives from Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, Australasia

Australasia

Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...

 and North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. They represent over $3 trillion of investment capital and as pension funds have an inherently long term focus.

In November 2007 the first P8 Summit was held. This brought together leaders from eight of the world's largest public pension funds with key experts including Vice President Al Gore

Al Gore

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....

 and HRH Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...

. The P8 Summit was a critical start in getting pension funds to lead in the move toward a low carbon economy. Participants agreed to continue working together to address climate change, both within their organizations and as a group to influence policy

Policy

A policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. The term is not normally used to denote what is actually done, this is normally referred to as either procedure or protocol...

 and markets.

The group, now 10 pension funds, met again in July 2008 to further develop their strategy. At this meeting HRH Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...

 welcomed their continued "determination to put substantial money into investments that address climate change."

Members of P8

• CalPERS
  CalPERS
  The California Public Employees' Retirement System or CalPERS is an agency in the California executive branch that "manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.6 million California public employees, retirees, and their families"...
  
  
• CalSTRS
  CalSTRS
  The California State Teachers' Retirement System provides retirement, disability and survivor benefits for California's 852,316 prekindergarten through community college educators and their families...
  
  
• New York State
• British Columbia
  British Columbia
  British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
  
  
• AP7
• APG
  APG
  APG is an abbreviation with several different meanings:* Aberdeen Proving Ground, a United States Army installation in Aberdeen, Maryland, also**Phillips Army Airfield, the airfield of the above, from its IATA airport code...
  
  
• USS
  USS
  USS may refer to:Various organizations:* Union of Secondary Students, a student-rights advocacy group in Ireland* Union Switch & Signal, a supplier of railroad switching equipment* Union Syndicale Suisse, the Swiss Trade Union Confederation...
  
   -- the UK Universities Superannuation Scheme
  Universities Superannuation Scheme
  The Universities Superannuation Scheme is a pension scheme in the United Kingdom. Its members include academic and academic-related staff in many United Kingdom universities, mainly those that were universities prior to 1992...
  
  
• ACSI
  ACSI
  ACSI may also refer to:* Acta Chimica Slovenica, a peer-reviewed chemical journal published by the Slovenian Chemical Society* American Customer Satisfaction Index, an economic indicator that measures the satisfaction of consumers across the U.S...
  
  
• Korean National Pension Fund
• Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund
  The Government Pension Fund of Norway
  The Government Pension Fund of Norway comprises two entirely separate sovereign wealth funds owned by the Government of Norway:* The Government Pension Fund - Global...